January 2013

January 26, 2013

This is number four in my occasional series focusing boats that I have a personal interest in. When I was jotting down my list on a note pad whilst waiting for a plane some months back I swiftly came to the realization that these boats are wildly different and I also realized that although they may be good at one thing they are often not so good at another; all boats are a compromise. So the next in my series is somewhat of a departure from previous boats in my list and this is definitely one that you can not build in the garage. The Florida Bay Coaster series of boats are designed by Jay Benford, whose work I have long admired. Many would say these boats are ugly and although I would not call them pretty they do have very purposeful air to them. What I personally like about them is that they make no pretensions to world girdling cruising but in my mind would be ideal for trips up and down the east coast of the USA. Offering prodigious amounts of space in their length they are perfect as a live-aboard boat. I also like the fact that they are steel which is probably one of the toughest boat building materials that you can have,after all if it's good enough for a super tanker it must be great for a recreational boat.

They have a proper wheel house from which to con the boat, most are not overly cluttered up with lots of berths, they have proper 'living rooms', in fact just about everything to make spending time aboard very comfortable. Power is modest too and I as far as I understand most have a single diesel although the example shown has twin engines. I think the best compromise might be something like a 300 to 350 hp John Deere or Cummins with a smaller separate wing engine this would leave plenty of room in the engine room for getting to everything. This boat is only going to run at displacement speeds so adding additional power would offer little to no extra benefit. So that would make the boat fairly economic to run and I would estimate that at 8 knots you might only use 7 gallons per hour.

These pictures are borrowed from Yachtworld where 60 foot long 'IRONY' is currently listed for $599,00 which I think is a bargain, if only I could just win the lottery! It is also interesting to note that Florida bay Coasters have a look similar to Great Harbor trawlers although the latter tend to be smaller by comparison.

January 23, 2013

There is no doubt in my mind that carrying a few tools on board is a great idea. Even if you are the sort of person that gets the boatyard to do all of you maintenance things can still go awry when out on the water and few well chosen tools could well save the day. Obviously the choice of tools will depend to some extent on where and how you cruise. You will not have to carry as many tools on a small outboard boat as you might on a large cruising trawler away from the dock for weeks at a time. In an effort to address these issues I put together a tools kit that will serve for most routine maintenance tasks and emergencies. I bought a plastic tool box and everything packs into it for protection and storage. Obviously you can supplement or change tools to suit yourself but the tools that I have included work well enough for me and have got me out of a jam more than once. Finally as with anything and especially tool you get what you pay for, cheap tools often yield disappointing results so buy the best tools that you can afford. Buying any tools represents a significant investment so it often pays to build up your tool kit a bit at a time . The tools detailed below are those that I regularly carry aboard my own 26ft wooden sailboat and with them I can undertake the majority of likely repairs. I choose multi-purpose tools and everything fits neatly into the smallplastic toolbox. I store spare parts separately in small, easy-to-stow plastic tubs.

WD 40.

So useful that I class it as a tool. Lubricates and frees corroded and frozen parts.

Duct tape.

Strong and easy to tear. Useful for making temporary repairs to plumbing and so much more.

Plastic insulation tape.

Insulates chafed electrical connections and can be wrapped around turnbuckles and other fixtures and fittings.

Tape measure.

You never know when you'll need to measure something. Remember to measure twice and cut once.

Hand drill.

The ultimate rechargeable requires no batteries and takes drill bits up to 3/8in diameter. A model with a keyed chuck holds the bits without slippage.

Matches.

Melt the cut ends of synthetic line and rope to prevent fraying.

Hacksaw.

Can be used to cut metal, fibreglass and wood.

Hammer.Persuades things to go together and come apart!

Vice grips.Useful as a portable small vice and adjustable wrench at apinch.

Mirror on a stick.

For locating errant components thatfall into the bilge or get lost in other corners of the boat.

Multitool.

Wear this on your belt so that you will have a knife, pliersand bottle opener at hand.

File.

This one is double-sided; one side is a metal file and the other is a rasp for wood and fibreglass.

Drill bits.

A selection of bits from 1/32in to 1/4in will do almost all the drilling you might need. Anything larger is hard work with a hand-powered drill.

Socket wrench and sockets.

One to fit every nut and bolt on the boat. Add a plug socket if you have a gas engine.

Multi-meter.

Invaluable for electrical and fault tracing. Learn its functions and how to operate it before you have to use it on the boat.

Pencil.

Handy to use with the tape for marking and measuring.

Screwdrivers.

A selection of Philips and straight blades in various sizes and lengths.

Putty knife.

For scraping up excess bedding compound and the like.

Circlip pliers.

You'll need these to take a water pump apart - it takes ages without them.

Rigging knife.

A sharp rigging knife is the best thing for cutting line and cordage.

Adjustable wrench.

This is one of my favorite tools on the boat. Made from high-grade stainless steel it not only loosens and releases nuts and bolts but also incorporates a shackle key and bottle opener in the handle.

January 20, 2013

Here's a tip that you may not know about. Sanding as we all know is a tedious business and it is easy to overlook some sections of the work in an effort to get it over with. When sanding a hull or other large piece of work; I am working on a large mahogany worktop here, it pays to scribble on the whole surface with a pencil then as work progresses you sand away the pencil marks so you know just where you have, or haven't been.

January 18, 2013

At the time of writing it is 16 Fahrenheit outside with plenty of snow on the ground so rather than spend a few hours in the workshop I thought it best to update this blog! For most of the year, the workshop which is insulated is a comfy place to work, I have music, often a mug of tea and time passes in a most congenial and agreeable manner. But days like this make it less agreeable and it is hard to get warm and as such the work, assuming that you can actually get stated tends to suffer for it. Work is less productive and if using and sort of adhesive like epoxy then glued joints actually suffer and not make a complete and proper bond.

Up till now I have been trying to warm the place up with electric fan heaters; these do work but warming up the space takes time and if I only want to be down there for an hour or two have to turn on the heaters well in advance to take the chill out of the air. In an effort to address these problems I have decided to install some infrared heating. Available in either gas or electric variants these heaters work in a sense much as flood light does and heats things rather than the surrounding air. Infrared is at the lower end of the light spectrum and is invisible to human eyes but essentially they have 'rays' which when they fall on something tends to heat it up in much the same way that the sun does. That is why when we sit out in the sun we get hot and if we want to cool off we go and sit in the shade. OK so science lesson over.

So with the infrared heater installed things should improve right away. Because we need a direct path for the infrared it is important to install the heaters high on a wall or overhead so there is less chance of things blocking the heater 'beam'. There should be savings on my electric bill too as I shall only need to put the heat on as I need it; switch it on when I enter and turn it off as I leave in much the same way as a light. It is also worth noting that because things are heated with 'light' theyare unaffected by the wind so I should still feel warm even with the big door open when I am working on something particularly dusty. The 3000 watt heater shown costs about $500 but it is claimed will heat over 350 square feet. It will be interesting to see how things improve in the workshop.

January 14, 2013

Here is short video that my son and I shot the other day of me edge jointing a mahogany board with a number 6 bench plane. The blade had been sharpened using the technique described in my earlier post and as you can see and hear the curly shavings just 'whisper' from the sharp edge. Mahogany can be notoriously difficult to plane up as it has interlocking grain but sharp tools that are honed to a razor edge make things much more pleasant, easy and quick.

It is also worth mentioning that many hand planes require some fettling to make them work at their best. The more that a plane is used the smoother the sole becomes but one straight out of the box or a plane that is rarely used will definitely benefit from having the bottom trued up and polished. The best way to do this is to tape a large sheet of 150 grit emery paper to a flat machine table or sheet of plate glass and with the blade removed rub the sole back and forth until you can see your face in it. The shiny surface reduces friction considerably and takes out any uneveness; few planes are perfectly flat. One final point, to make the plane glide across the surface is to use a little candle wax on the sole from time to time; I keep a length of candle in the tool bag for this specific purpose.

January 04, 2013

It's videos like this that keep me inspired and always get me to try harder at my own projects. The boat is a Jericho Bay lobster skiff that was featured in the magazine a couple of years back. The lines were taken off an old boat that could no longer be used and now they offer plans for you to build your own in strip plank. The example in the video raises varnish work to a whole new level.

January 02, 2013

I have always liked small boats. Part of the reason is that although boats have been a part of my life since I was very small they have always been second banana financially, at least to other commitments, house, family, bills etc etc. The other reason is that as I actually like building boats I have tended toward boats that I can build and complete within a reasonable time frame; even a small boat is large commitment in terms of time. material money and energy, if one of these diminishes then the project will falter or fail. Boatyards are full of half complete projects that will never be finished because often the owner ran out of enthusiasm, money or just completely overlooked how long it was going to take. Having said that even a small boat is a major undertaking but if it can be built in the family garage with the car parked outside for 18 months then things are much more likely to get finished.

I have said this before too but most boat owners have a boat that is too big for them; either they cannot afford to run it or they require lots of crew to handle the boat.

So with these things in mind it is interesting to introduce to you the designs of New Zealander John Welsford. I especially like his 'Swaggie'

Small in size but with a fairly wide beam and no large inboard to take up the space she should be roomy for one and cosy for two. Plans are moderately priced too at $440 NZ. So what are you waiting for clear out the garage, order the plans and get started then send me the pictures when you have finished her.